Tuesday Storytime: Cardboard Boxes

I did a "box" storytime (cough) years ago, and I had the WORST time finding good picture books for the topic, which I thought was so weird - cardboard boxes are totally a THING with kids, right? Now I'm happy to say that there are quite a few good "box books" out there to choose from, and I've got three really nice ones.

Big Friends
Linda Sarah, illustrated by Benji Davies
ISBN: 9781627793308
Birt and Etho are Big Friends, and they love taking their giant cardboard boxes up to the top of the nearby hill and playing fantastic games with them. Until Shu, a younger boy, gets up the nerve to ask to play also, and suddenly being a trio is just too much for Birt. He bails and sulks and avoids the other two boys until they come by his house with an amazing cardboard construction to share - maybe a trio isn't so bad after all?

Not a Box
Antoinette Portis
ISBN: 9780061123221
This is like the platonic ideal of a box book. A cute little black outlined bunny and box appear on each spread, with a question about what the bunny is doing with/at/in that box? Answers are on the next spread, as the phrase "not a box" is repeated (with just enough variation and emphasis) alongside the same illustration of the bunny and box repeated, but with added red outlines of the imaginary item that the box is representing. Very very good interactive and fun super short book. Remember to use a good robot voice for one of the "this is not a box" repeats.

What to do With a Box
Jane Yolen, illustrated by Chris Sheban
ISBN: 9781568462899
This is like a more dreamlike and artistic version of Not a Box. Yolen's slant rhymes and strange cadences work more often than not, but can be a bit tongue-trippy at times. The artwork is fake collage done with watercolors and colored pencils and inks, very well done, but perhaps a litttle overproduced? Just the tiniest bit? The kids seem to be siblings, but that's not made hugely clear, and they aren't diverse or minority, which is a shame, because the "story" doesn't require a static cast of characters to present the concept. I would have liked to see more and varied faces and bodies enjoying the boxes, rather than the same duo of "samey" white kids we always see. Very pretty, and artistically quite clever, but I sort of prefer the directness of Not a Box, or the more depthful friendship message in Big Friends.

Picture Book: What to Do With a Box, Jane Yolen, illustrated by Chris Sheban

What to Do With a Box
Jane Yolen, illustrated by Chris Sheban
ISBN: 9781568462899
Read August 2016

New arrival!  This one is awfully cute.  There are a good few "box" books out there, and I think this one adds nicely to the collection.  It's a little on the sepia/bland side, so I don't know if it will work for storytime, but I'm thinking about giving it a whirl, just so I can say I did an entire storytime theme around cardboard boxes.  The things that give a librarian joy.

So I said earlier that it's a bit sepia/bland - what I should have said is that it's box-colored.  Most of the illustrations are of slightly hazy sepia-toned children playing in various quite-lifelike boxes, with their imaginations or drawings fading off the box into a sort of dreamy realm.  It's a lovely way to envision the imagination that kids use when they're playing in a box or crate like that.

There isn't much of a story - it basically just asks what a box can be, and then each spread answers it with a different imagined playscape and a different set of children or single child with their own box or boxes.  Still, it's sweet and fun and the language is easy and beautiful.

I think I've just convinced myself to do it.  :)